{"id":62222,"date":"2018-10-03T20:44:54","date_gmt":"2018-10-03T20:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/03\/pompeo-backs-away-from-denuclearization-goal-for-north-korea\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:19:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:19:33","slug":"pompeo-backs-away-from-denuclearization-goal-for-north-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/10\/03\/pompeo-backs-away-from-denuclearization-goal-for-north-korea\/","title":{"rendered":"Pompeo backs away from denuclearization goal for North Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo distanced himself Wednesday from a previously stated goal of getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons<\/a> by the end of President Donald Trump\u2019s first term in January 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump himself said last week that he doesn’t want to get into a “time game” over how long it will take North Korea to denuclearize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pompeo, who\u2019s preparing for a trip to North Korea, said 2021 wasn\u2019t his goal. But that date was referred to in a Sept. 19 statement in his name on the outcome of summit between the leaders of South and North Korea<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pompeo told reporters that he had just been restating a potential timeline that was discussed at that summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My comment about 2021 was not mine. I repeated it but it was a comment that had been made by the leaders who had their inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang. They talked about 2021 when they were gathered there. So I was reiterating this as a time line that they were potentially prepared to agree to,” Pompeo said at the State Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\t